On Aug. 22, Deftones released their tenth album, titled “Private Music.” The album featured delicately-ridged vocals by Chino Moreno that keeps the Deftones sound consistent.
I am not the biggest Deftones fan, I only listen to the most popular songs such as “My Own Summer (Shove it),” “Cherry Waves” and “Entombed.” I do not think they are a terrible band, I find that they stick to their formula and have been the most prominent in their respective genres.
I hope to see them switch things up in the near future. Though, after listening to “Private Music,” I find myself understanding their vision of intimacy; “Private Music” describes the journey of climbing to the top for a new phase.
The band paves a path for a harsh rhythm that is cut through with Chino Moreno’s soft voice to deliver a tender message that is nothing short of passionate. As I find with most Deftones songs, there is an underlying tone of desperation that proves a cruel reality of love and change. Moreno uses descriptive words such as swollen and devouring in the song “ecdysis,” which is a similar theme to their previous greatest hits.
I do not think the album detours from the Deftones track that has been built since 1994. This album has 11 songs and runs for about 42 minutes, meaning it does not stray from the previous 9 albums. Nothing sticks out to me from their previous hits.
However, the last two songs – “~mental dream” and “departing the body” – have me reconsidering my opinion on Deftones as a whole. They lead into each other with very separate focuses. “~mental dream” describes a dream sequence for the desire of a rich life with whom Moreno sings about; to be perfect and forever. Though, the music itself has more of a straight beat rather than a flow, which can be interpreted differently depending on the listener. This leads into the final track of the album, titled “departing the body," which has a connected wavering, mysterious, almost creepy, melody riff that leads into a slow, tender conclusion for the entire album.
The album describes a cold, clean new phase that kicks off the previous dust of who we once were when we started. To depart the body — to me — literally means a somber close. The dream-like goal of Deftones shines brightly here.
Motifs ending in death are somber, though make way for something new. With their last album being released in 2020, “private music” garners the band's recent popularity to strike new and old fans alike.
The album connects the new wave of fans to the tenderness, and the old fans with a craving for delicious percussion. Deftones know exactly who their audience is and how to deliver their message to them. Their 31 years of gentle depravity still rises to the top in 2025. I'd love for them to do something totally different and shock their audience, though for now, it appears that playing it safe is a guaranteed hit.
Eve Padilla-Salazar is a freelance videographer for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @DailyLobo
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